Self-Optimization Has Become Permission for Narcissism

The gist

1. The Enhanced Games produced only one world record, with many athletes finishing slower than untested competitors, undermining claims that these substances are performance miracles.
2. Roll and Skolnick argue that obsessive self-optimization through enhancement normalizes narcissism and actually undermines self-esteem rather than building it.
3. The event is framed as a marketing tool that normalizes drug use by making enhancement look aspirational, pulling vulnerable people toward unproven compounds.
4. Mainstream acceptance of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss psychologically primes people to treat other hormones like testosterone and HGH as similarly safe, even without long-term trial data.